Parliament on Thursday passed the Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Viksit Bharat Guarantee Bill (VB-G RAM G). The bill seeks to replace the 20-year-old MGNREGA and guarantee 125 days of rural work every year.
The Rajya Sabha passed the legislation after receiving the assent of the Lok Sabha amid opposition protests. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan argued that the bill was needed to correct the flaws in the old scheme.
The Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill (VB-G RAM G) was passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote, hours after the Lok Sabha passed it on Thursday.
Why did Oppn protest?
The opposition protested the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the existing rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA and accused the government of imposing a financial burden on the states.
The opposition also demanded that the bill be sent to a parliamentary committee for further consideration.
Several members of the opposition staged a strike in the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the bill after demanding its withdrawal and raising slogans against the government.
They also tore pages of the law and were warned by CP Radhakrishnan not to go to the treasury benches.
Strive for dharna
Opposition parties later sat on a dharna outside the Samvidhan Sadan in the Parliament complex against the bill. They claimed to launch a nationwide agitation. The TMC MPs decided to remain on a 12-hour dharna at the Parliament complex on the steps of Samvidhan Sadan.
Reacting to the five-hour debate on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Chouhan accused the Congress of “killing” the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi several times and using his name to further its political gains.
“This bill is much needed as it will help provide employment opportunities, help develop rural India and take the country forward,” the minister was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Thursday.
Chouhan said that under the UPA government, MGNREGA was riddled with corruption and the expected amount of funds was not spent on procurement of material for the designated works.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a dream to make the country a developed nation for which village development is very important.
“All these hours I patiently heard the opposition and I expected the opposition to hear my response to the debate. Making points, making accusations and running away is like murdering the dreams and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said as opposition members staged a protest.
“The whole nation is watching their ‘goondagardi’ and the opposition is committing the sin of insulting democracy. The House ‘dadagiri se nahin chalega’ (this House will not rule so haughtily),” he said.
Chouhan said that ‘Bapu’ is the ideal of the BJP and the party has adopted the social and economic views of Mahatma Gandhi in its functioning.
“Rural development and employment programs have been taking shape for decades, but rural development has remained a distant cry. While the original scheme was launched in 2005, Mahatma Gandhi’s name was added in 2009 to garner Congress electoral benefits,” the minister said.
“They are using the name of Mahatma Gandhi for their politics. If anyone has murdered the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, it is the Congress that has done so. They have murdered Gandhi’s ideals several times, including during the Emergency and while committing fraud and deceit. They are doing it even now by creating uproar and riots in the house,” the minister said.
The Modi government has implemented MGNREGA correctly, claimed Chouhan, and shared data comparing the progress of the scheme during the previous UPA regime and during the NDA.
He claimed that while the UPA issued ₹NDA has released nearly 2.13 lakh crores ₹8.53 million crowns.
Chouhan said that Mahatma Gandhi wanted the Congress to be dissolved after the elections, but Jawaharlal Nehru did not do so to gain political benefits.
Earlier in the day, the Lok Sabha passed the bill amid paper-tearing by opposition members who accused the government of destroying the rural economy and ignoring Gandhian principles.
In a spirited response to the eight-hour debate on G RAM G Bill Chouhan said the bill was introduced after extensive deliberation because it seemed to fit the bill. ₹10-11 crore should be spent on initiatives such as water conservation, development of basic rural and livelihood related infrastructure and initiation of special works to mitigate extreme weather events.
As opposition members in the House tore papers and raised slogans, Chouhan argued that MGNREGA had outlived its usefulness and the government was now focusing on creating permanent assets and developing model villages, instead of just paying wages.
At a press conference at the BJP headquarters after the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha, Chouhan criticized the opposition for resorting to “hooliganism” in the Lok Sabha by tearing papers and standing on the tables in the House.
“The opposition has dishonored democracy by its behavior, torn parliamentary traditions to shreds and turned democracy into ‘bheedtantra’ (mobocracy) and ‘goondatantra’ (hooliganism).
